A Browning .50 Caliber Machine gun, left, and M240 machine guns are lined up for cleaning in U.S. Army barracks in Khost province, Afghanistan. / Victor J. Blue

by Kevin Johnson and Aamer Madhani, USA TODAY

by Kevin Johnson and Aamer Madhani, USA TODAY

WASHINGTON - Building on its campaign to restrict high-powered firearms, the Obama administration issued two directives Thursday that would ban the private re-importation of surplus military firearms originally provided to U.S. allies and require applicants who seek to transfer guns to private trusts or corporations to undergo criminal background checks.

The actions are an expansion of the administration's attempt to reduce gun violence unveiled in January, a month after the Newtown, Conn., school massacre.

The announcement also comes on the same day that B. Todd Jones was sworn in as the first permanent director of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) in seven years.

"We're finally putting the ATF back in business,'' Vice President Biden said at White House ceremony marking Jones' first official day on the job.

Referring to the long absence of permanent leadership, Biden said the agency had been "marginalized.''

"But no longer,'' he said.

Later Thursday, Jones his confirmation as permanent director provides the embattled agency "the respect it deserves.'' And it will fall to Jones to enforce the administrations newest executive actions.

Under the administration's directives, the government--which had authorized the re-importation of 250,000 surplus military firearms since 2005--will deny all such future requests with the exception of those made on behalf of museums or other archives.

The new provision for background checks targets felons and others prohibited from owning guns who seek to bypass background check requirements by registering the firearms to private trusts or corporations.

According to the ATF, the bureau received more than 39,000 such transfer requests last year.

"Felons, domestic abusers and others prohibited from having guns can easily evade the required background check and gain access to machine guns or other particularly dangerous weapons by registering the weapon to a trust or corporation,'' the White House said in its announcement.

Biden called the transfer provision "a very artful dodge.''

The National Rifle Association, meanwhile, said the administration's actions "missed the mark when it comes to stopping violent crime.''

"Requiring background checks for corporations and trusts does not keep firearms out of the hands of criminals,'' NRA spokesman Andrew Arulanandam said.

Arulanandam said the re-importation ban largely involved weapons that were manufactured more than 50 years ago and also "does not keep firearms out of the hands of criminals.''

"The administration should get serious about prosecuting violent criminals who misuse guns and stop focusing its efforts on law-abiding gun owners,'' he said.

The NRA did not take a position on Jones' nomination, which drew opposition from many Republicans on the way to his Senate confirmation last month by a vote of 53-42.

Jones, the top federal prosecutor in Minnesota, was appointed as acting ATF director in 2011 in a leadership shake-up at the agency, prompted by a botched gun-trafficking investigation that allowed hundreds of firearms to flow into the hands of criminals and drug cartel enforcers in Mexico.

"Today is a historic day for the ATF,'' Jones said. "The agency is now in line with its sister components and has been given the respect it deserves as a federal law enforcement agency with a permanent director.''